On Friday July 15, presidential hopefuls filed what for many was their first official campaign finance reports as candidates for the 2012 campaign season. While major story lines were reported quickly in news accounts, the Campaign Finance Institute has delayed reporting until we were able to put the filings through CFI’s standardized procedures. This lets us compare the candidates of 2012 not only with each other, but with their predecessors in 2008.

The first fact that stands out for us is that three of this year’s top four fundraisers so far have relied on small donors – Barack Obama, Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann. Mitt Romney’s and Tim Pawlenty’s campaigns have so far been fueled mainly by large contributions. Among potential candidates who have not said whether they would run, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas has relied on large donors in his past three gubernatorial elections, while former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska could have a strong base among potential small donors.

Here are a few more highlights that caught our attention. More details are in the attached tables.

President Obama’s Campaign

The Obama campaign’s finances were in some ways more impressive than first reported, even if early headlines now seem to have been inflated.

To begin with the inflated side of the story:

First, as has been well reported, the campaign combined its party fundraising numbers ($38 million) together with its campaign numbers and other costs to claim a record one-quarter haul of $86 million. Of course, other presidents raised money for their parties too, but that was before candidates took direct credit by reporting the funds through a joint fundraising committee.

Second, the Obama campaign did raise $47 million dollars for his campaign, as has been reported. But only $42 million was for the pre-nomination period. The other $5 million is earmarked for the general election. Almost all of that general election money came in $2,500 increments from donors who also gave $2,500 for the primaries.

That means we should forget the talk about “records”. President Bush raised $50.1 million in the third quarter of 2003 and another $47.5 million in the fourth quarter. And because Bush accepted public financing for the general election, all of his money was for the pre-nomination period.

But record claiming aside, there is no getting around the fact that $42 million is an impressive number – especially since the campaign did not use the full three months to get it. Even more impressive is the way it was raised.

Bundlers: There has been a lot of talk about the Obama campaign’s reporting the names of 244 bundlers. According to a joint CFI-Public Citizen report published at the end of 2007, it took the Obama campaign the full year of 2007 to reach what then seemed like the massive number of 328 bundlers. It looks as if they’ll pass 328 pretty easily this time. Incumbents tend to do well at this sort of thing.

But there is a difference: In 2007, bundlers were responsible for about half the Obama campaign’s money in the off-year. In 2011, we can tell from the number of maxed out donors that the bundlers’ proportional role for the campaign committee has been smaller, as bundlers seem to be turning some of their effort to party fundraising.

Maxed out donors: Donors who gave the maximum contribution of $2,500 have been responsible for only 19% of the candidate’s funds. In the first half of 2007, “maxed out” donors were responsible for 44% of Obama’s money (and 61% of Sen. Clinton’s).

Small donors: Meanwhile, donors who gave $200-or-less were responsible for a remarkable $22.1 million, or 53% of the President’s pre-nomination money from individuals. In the last election, the Obama campaign’s small donor successes did not take off until the fourth quarter of 2007. Over the full 2008 primary season, Obama raised 30% of his $409 million in individual contributions from donors whose contributions aggregated to $200 or less.

Republicans

As has been widely noted, all of the Republican candidates together raised less than the President ($36 million). Right now, they are running against each other, so the comparison with the President may not be apt. By some time during the first half of next year, one Republican will have wrapped up the nomination. At that moment the successful candidate is likely to have little or no cash on hand. That is when the disparity with the President will be most sorely felt, and when GOP independent spending committees may try to make up some of the gap. Until then, the Republicans will be most concerned with each other.

Mitt Romney has raised $18.2 million in the one quarter since his 2012 campaign officially started. This is about half of the $34.2 million he had raised at this time in 2007, when his campaign had been raising money for two full quarters. One potential danger signal: nearly three-quarters of Romney’s money (74%) came from donors who already have given him the maximum. His yield from donors of $1,000 or more was 89% of his total. His small-donor percentage of 6% is the lowest of this year’s candidates so far.

Ron Paul’s and Michele Bachmann’s donor profiles are pretty much the opposite of Romney’s. Paul has raised 46% of his $4.1 million from donors who have given him $200 or less. Bachman has raised 67% of her late-starting campaign’s $1.6 million from individual donors in amounts of $200 or less. (Bachmann also transferred $2 million from her congressional campaign committee to her presidential campaign. This committee is also fueled by small donors.)

Paul’s numbers are slightly ahead of this point in 2007, when he had raised 41% of $3.0 million from small donors. For the full 2008 presidential primary season, Paul raised 39% of his $34.3 million from donors whose contributions aggregated to $200 or less.

Bachmann was the top congressional fundraiser in 2009-2010, with a total of $13.5 million. More than half came from donors who aggregated to $200 or less.

Tim Pawlenty’s donor profile resembles Romney’s. 62% of his individual contributions have come from donors who maxed out and 79% from ones who gave $1,000 or more. Another 12% came from donors of $200 or less.

If Gov. Rick Perry of Texas enters the race, he is likely to be among those who raise a lot from large donors. His home state has no contribution limits. In his 2010 reelection campaign, Perry raised $39 million. A sizable majority was in amounts above the $2,500 a donor is allowed to give to a federal candidate.

Tables:

Table 1. Summary information for the presidential candidates of 2012, through June 30, 2011.

Table 2. Sources of individual contributions for the 2012 candidates, through June 30, 2011.

Table 3. Summary information for the presidential candidates of 2008, through June 30, 2007.

Table 4. Sources of individual contributions for the 2008 candidates, through June 30, 2007.

The Campaign Finance Institute is a nonpartisan research institute based
in Washington DC. Statements of the Campaign Finance Institute or its staff
do not necessarily reflect the views of CFI's trustees or financial supporters.